Cameron Mackenzie, Four Pillars

From five rings to Four Pillars

Head distiller and co-founder Cameron Mackenzie established Four Pillars Gin in 2011 with his long-time friend, Stuart (Stu) Gregor, and Matt Jones, a rugby-loving Welshman who Stuart knew through his work in communications.

However, owning a distillery and producing award winning gins was not Cameron’s first choice of career. His heart had been set on something entirely different.

In 1996, Cameron represented Australia in the 4 x 400m relay at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Then twelve months later, while working at a winery in the Yarra Valley and training for the Sydney 2000 Olympics team, he met Stu.

Looking back, Cameron said: “I worked for him as an assistant in the company’s PR department and it’s probably fair to say that our shared love of wine pretty much destroyed my chances of becoming a dual Olympian.

“Although I narrowly missed making the team, we became terrific mates!”

Instead, Cameron focused on building a career working in commercial roles in the wine industry, while Stu went on to develop his career in communications.

Wilma

Having made the decision to go into business together to produce a new gin, Cameron bought a small lab still because despite possessing good production skills, he had no distilling experience. This marked the beginning of what he refers to as his “Breaking Bad” phase.

What did prove useful, however, was the experience he had gained in the wine industry: “My background in wine did give me a useful head start because I understood and appreciated aromas and flavours, balance, weight and texture.”

Cameron was keen to get the most out of the very first still they purchased – a 450 litre CARL still from Germany they named Wilma, after his late mother. However, instead of contacting a technician, he got in touch with world-renowned German distillation expert, Dr Klaus Hagmann, who he refers to as ‘a genius,’ who flew out to help him.

The company website states that Wilma is “an extraordinary still”, when asked why, Cameron responded: “She had five sons, so she could explode at the drop of a hat… she also put away martinis like no one I’ve ever seen!”

Three bald Australians

When questioned about how he arrived at the right combination of flavours for their signature Rare Dry Gin, Cameron said: “This is where Matt was brilliant. He set me several parameters, such as ‘Don’t make London Dry Gin – we love it, but the world doesn’t need another one made by three bald Australians’, ‘Nowhere tastes like Australia – we have the most fascinating native botanicals of any country on earth’, and ‘Climate – we have access to fresh botanicals all year round – such as citrus.’

“Those gave me the guard rails within which to work. It still took a long time – 18 months in total – but I couldn’t be happier with our Rare Dry Gin – it’s my favourite of all our gins.”

The process is still very much the same today when developing new gins – there is no set formula, as Cameron explained: “Sometimes we start with a botanical and move forward – does it distil? Does it work with juniper? Then we start to build the base, mid and top notes.

“We ask lots of questions – will this be citrus forward, or spice forward, or savoury, or floral? Other times we might start with a drink and work backwards. A great example is Olive Leaf Gin. I love a savoury, textural martini, so we had a good understanding of what we wanted before we even started.”

Expansion

Four Pillars Gin first started out in a shed at the back of Rob Dolan Wines, as Cameron explained: “Rob had given me my first ever job at a winery and we had stayed great mates, so he agreed to lease me a very small space to get started.”

Stu and Matt were still based in Sydney, where they managed distribution, communications, marketing and brand strategy, so when Cameron needed help with bottling and labelling, he would ask friends and family members. “I won’t lie,” he said, “there are probably still some bottles out there autographed by my then five-year-old!”

In 2015, Four Pillars moved within the same region to a bigger site in Healesville, a town in Victoria, located in the Yarra Velley about 52 km northeast of Melbourne. Cameron recalled: “We went from 100sqm to 800sqm, which meant we could buy another still and a bottling line.

“We also built a cracking hospitality suite and hosted tastings and served drinks every day. On weekends we’d have lengthy queues out the door for hours.

“When COVID hit we took the opportunity to double the size of our premises and we now have a hospitality area that holds 350 people, so we don’t have as many queues, and we have a new bottling area. We also added two new 2,000 litre stills.”

Michelle Hall, who initially helped with invoices and logistics, is now Operations Director and the lynchpin of the distillery, and help from friends and family is no longer required as they employ approximately 160 people, with most of the original staff still with the company.

Four Pillars Gin now has six CARL stills on site, with each one named after the mums of the founders, and some of the company’s longest serving team members.

Collaborations

Cameron believes that the collaborations they have forged have been at the heart of Four Pillar’s growth:

“We found early on that there wasn’t much collaboration going on in the industry and we felt this was crazy,” he said.

He continued: “We have made gin in Spain with Santamania, in Sweden with Hernö, in Japan with Kyoto Distillery, in India with Stranger & Sons and in the UK with Warners.

“We have built a network of likeminded distillers who focus on quality, and who want to share stories and knowledge.”

The Gin Guild

Another way that Cameron builds contacts and shares knowledge is through organisations such as The Australian Distillers Association and the Gin Guild.

The former has an annual conference, and each state has its own association, which helps keeps the gin scene vibrant and progressive but according to Cameron, it is still finding its feet.

This is largely because despite the hundreds of gins available, the Australian tax structure makes it difficult for distilleries to grow beyond cottage level production.

Cameron believes the Gin Guild offers many benefits to the industry, including the ability to network with established and new distilleries, not to mention the chance to meet so many industry icons like Desmond Payne, Lesley Gracie and  Dr. Anne Brock.

He expanded on this and said:

“The Gin Guild is brilliant and continues to be a champion for the greatest of white spirits. Its value lies in the continual focus on quality, style, innovation and service.

“It is so important that gin remains relevant and to a large degree transcends industry trends.”

Forward thinking

Four Pillars Gin has been named Australia’s first certified carbon neutral gin distillery, which is something that the whole team is incredibly proud of, as Cameron explained: “We have always tried to take a leadership role in the industry in Australia because it is still in its infancy.

“We view our sustainability plan as an investment. There is now an expectation from consumers and trade that we all put sustainability at the top of the list because we are an energy and water hungry industry with a fair amount of potential waste.”

He continued: “Visitors to the distillery ask just as many questions about our sustainability efforts as they do our gins!

“We also view it as a challenge for our team. We aim to constantly improve the way we operate and that won’t work if they are not on board.”

The future of Four Pillars Gin

When asked what the future holds for the company, Cameron replied: “When we started Four Pillars our aim was to build a business around great people who care for each other and respect each other. We have done that.

“We also wanted to make a world class gin, not be the quirky Australian gin on the back bar. We wanted to earn our place at the best bars in the world. Our aim is to keep working hard and continue to grow, especially our export markets. We have had a huge 10 years, but I feel we are only at base camp.

“The team here is ready to ascend to the summit.”